The Oklahoma Sooners will bring three AP First Team All-Americans into the College Football Playoff this year, including Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield. Mayfield was named a First Team All-American by the Associated Press on Monday, and he is joined by fellow Sooners offensive tackle Orlando Brown and tight end Mark Andrews.

Alabama safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith, and Clemson defensive end Clelin Ferrell were also named to the AP’s First Team to combine to match Oklahoma’s First Team total. Other First Team All-Americans included Heisman finalist and Doak Walker Award winner Bryce Love of Stanford, Biletnikoff Award winner James Washington. Lombardi Award winner Saquon Barkley of Penn State was named to the First Team as an all-purpose player, and the nation’s leading rusher, Rashaad Penny of San Diego State joined Love as a First Team running back.

As the 2017 season continued to play on, it became more and more apparent Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield would be winning the Heisman Trophy. On Saturday night in New York, the inevitable result became official. Mayfield was named the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner by the Heisman Trust during a ceremony in the PlayStation Theater in Times Square of New York City.

Only Ohio State and Notre Dame have more Heisman Trophy winners in the history of the award. The Buckeyes and Irish each have seven winners in Heisman Trophy history. Oklahoma fans will also take pride in knowing the Sooners now have three Heisman Trophy winners since the last Texas Longhorn player won the award (Ricky Williams in 1998).

The most recent Oklahoma player to win the Heisman Trophy before Mayfield was Sam Bradford in 2008 and Jason White in 2003. Officially, Oklahoma is the first school to have three Heisman Trophy winners in the 21st century (again, USC is also in this category if not for the Reggie Bush Heisman). Mayfield is also the first Heisman Trophy winner from the Big 12 since Robert Griffin III of Baylor won the award in 2011. Among power conferences, the Big Ten owns the longest Heisman Trophy drought; the last Big Ten Heisman Trophy winner was Troy Smith of Ohio State in 2006.

Mayfield will now attempt to become the second Heisman Trophy winner of the College Football Playoff era to lead his team to a national championship. Heisman Trophy winners are 1-1 in the national championship game in the playoff era. Oregon’s Marcus Mariota lost to Ohio State in the first playoff national championship game, but Alabama’s Derrick Henry captured a national title against Clemson in the second season of the playoff. Jackson and Louisville did not reach the playoff a year ago.

With a few games left in the regular season, Bovada may see the writing on the wall as far as the Heisman Trophy is concerned. After updating the odds as they usually do at the beginning of the week, the shortlist for the Heisman Trophy is down to just three players, with Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield a runaway favorite.

While not entirely impossible for another player to creep up on the Heisman board at this point, it would be highly unlikely given how much of an edge Bovada is giving to Mayfield. Mayfield has been putting up extraordinary numbers and he’s been doing so in significant games. Even after a stellar performance against a tough run defense Friday night, Bryce Love is only able to pull into a tie with Penn State’s Saquon Barkley as his numbers continue to dwindle.

Mayfield has been among the most consistent offensive players in the country this season and is a big reason why the Sooners have soared to the top of the Big 12 and are in a position to make a run to the College Football Playoff. The odds even suggest Mayfield could have a hiccup down the stretch and he would still be the easy favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.

Oklahoma has had five Heisman Trophy winners in school history. One more with Mayfield would move the Sooners to one shy of the all-time record of seven, held by Ohio State and Notre Dame (and USC, since we all know Reggie Bush won one as well).

As Stanford prepared for a Thursday night game on the west coast at Oregon State, the status of Heisman Trophy candidate running back Bryce Love was said to be a game-time decision by Stanford this week. With the game a few hours away from kicking off, the decision has reportedly been made. Love will sit out the road game at Oregon State.

Love tweaked his ankle in a game two weeks ago against Oregon. Despite having a bye week to recover last week, the extra time off was apparently not enough to make sure Love, a pivotal piece of Stanford’s offense, was good to go. And with big games on the horizon against Washington State and Washington, it is clearly in the best interest for Stanford and their Pac-12 hopes to take every precaution necessary with Love, not to mention in his own best interest to ensure he is fully healed and ready.

With Love out of the mix, Stanford should be able to rely on junior Cameron Scarlett, who has 217 rushing yards and six touchdowns this season. Stanford’s running game may not be quite as explosive without Love, but it should be more that good enough to take care of the Pac-12’s 11th-ranked rushing defense. Oregon State is allowing 200.14 yards per game in the rushing department.

Love is the nation’s leading rusher with 1,387 yards and among the nation’s leaders with 11 rushing touchdowns. He entered the week second in the Heisman race, according to Bovada, behind Penn State running back Saquon Barkley.

Stanford running back Bryce Love has been making some serious moves up the Heisman boards, but there is a chance he could be slowed down this weekend as Stanford prepares to take on Oregon State on Thursday night. It won’t be because Oregon State has the defense to lock down Love, though. Love is reportedly a game-time decision against the Beavers.

Love suffered an ankle injury in a win against Oregon on October 14. After getting a bye week to rest up and heal, it appears the ankle concern is still enough of an issue to possibly force Love to sit out the Thursday night game.

Oregon State likely poses little threat against the Cardinal with or without Love, so giving the key cog in the Stanford offense another week off to rest the ankle would make sense for the bigger picture. Stanford is still in the thick of the Pac-12 championship hunt with a 4-1 conference record putting the Cardinal in a tie for first-place in the Pac-12 North. Next week, Stanford visits Washington State, with the Cougars also owning a 4-1 mark in Pac-12 play and sitting atop the Pac-12 entering this week (Washington, the defending Pac-12 champion, is 3-1 in Pac-12 play going into this week). Love will be a factor in the Pac-12 North race the next two weeks with Stanford following up their road trip to Washington State with a home game against Washington.